Cars to go - Transport Authority wants space to seize more vehicles

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Despite the law giving the Transport Authority the power to sell vehicles that have been impounded for more than six months, the regulators say they are not rushing to put them on the market.

The authority yesterday rolled out an amnesty for unclaimed vehicles, which they said is aimed at getting additional space in its pounds.

"What happens when you have a vehicle in the pound for over six months is that it hampers the operations in terms of you being able to put other vehicles in the pound. That vehicle is sitting there, nobody is coming for it. We need the space to store other vehicles," Petra-Kene Williams, manager of corporate communication at the authority, told THE STAR.

A vehicle at the pound for more than six months is liable for auction, according to the Transport Authority Act.

NOT BENEFICIAL

"Once the vehicle has been there for over six months, it's really not beneficial to the authority to have it in our pounds that long. That is why the law empowers us to auction the vehicles," Williams said.

Owners qualify for the current amnesty if their vehicles have been impounded for more than six months.

"What we try to do before we auction anybody's vehicle is to allow the owners to come in and retrieve the vehicle at a reduced storage fee. That's why we do the amnesty. We are giving the owner a fair chance to retrieve his vehicle. The law doesn't say we have to do that, what the law says is that we can go straight to an auction once the vehicle is in the pound over six months," Williams said.

"The owner has to come in with the vehicle documents, then we check the storage fees, and depending on the amount of storage fees then that would determine the percentage of the waiver," Williams said,

Impounded cars attract a storage fee of $5,000 for the first day and $1,000 each day after, and larger units cost $5,500 and $1,250 for each additional day. The authority said it will be granting an amnesty of up to 75 per cent discount on the total storage fee.